We All Need A Hero
by IamLachrymosa
Summary: Jake was always the hero.  He didn't need saving.  At least, not until now.  Now, somone has to save HIM.  Darkfic.  Implied Jake/Cassie.  Later Jake/Tobias.  Rape, abuse, self-harm, etc.  Possible lemon.


**Hey people, this is my first fic EVER! so be nice. Please? I'm hoping to get good reviews about this story. Also, I just thought it is worth mentioning, I haven't read the Animorphs series in quite a while, and though I used Wikipedia to try and figure out the characters' personalities, some of them will probably be OOC. And yay Jake/Tobias! :D just sayin XD**

**Cassie's POV**

We watched as the Hork-Bajir Controllers lifted crate after crate onto the ship. They weren't very fast with their work, so that must mean whatever was in the crates was very valuable. Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias were on my left, and Ax, Josh, and Ali were on my right. Josh and Ali were new. Yeah, we added more characters. After the whole David fiasco you'd think we learned our lesson right? Wrong. Josh and Ali were orphans who lived on the streets off of virtually nothing. But they saw Visser Three and a few Controllers so we had to do something with them. Naturally we were suspicious. But then Ax took them aside and talked with them privately. Whatever was said between them was never shared but Ax trusts them fervently. So we trust them.

Alright, we need to figure out how to get one of those crates and finds out its contents, Jake said. He was in his Siberian tiger morph. I was in my wolf morph, Marco as a gorilla, Rachel as a grizzly, Ax as himself, and Tobias as himself. Josh was a panther and Ali was a cheetah.

{Why?} Josh asked.

{Because the contents could dangerous,} Ax warned him, {We'll need to discover the specifics in order to stop them.}

Josh sighed, and Ali growled at him. He hissed.

{Quiet, both of you!} Jake snapped. {Ax, you're up.}

{Yes, Prince-}

{Don't call me Prince, Ax.}

That what was how everything started. Everything pretty much went smoothly until the end.

Ax had made his way over to the Hork-Bajir Controllers and distracted them. Josh, Ali, and Jake had run over to help while Marco and Rachel picked up one of the crates and carried it away. Tobias and I were their escorts. We had gotten the crate over to Erek, who hauled it away with his family. Josh, Ali, and Ax ran back over to us.

{Where's Jake?} Marco asked.

One of the Hork-Bajir Controllers ran away from the fight, so Jake went to track it down. He told us not to worry about because he barely had a scratch and it was hurt, Ali said.

{Ax?} Rachel asked him.

{Prince Jake will be fine. I would have stopped him had I thought he would not be.}

{Then its fine by me,} Rachel said flippantly. {Let's go.}

She began lumbering off. I whined at her. {We can't just leave him!}

{Jake'll be fine! And we can't stay here anyways, this place will be swarming with Controllers soon. We need to get out of here. Now.}

Pretty soon arguing broke out. Marco, Tobias, and I wanted to wait for Jake while Ax, Rachel, Ali, and Josh wanted to leave while we could.

{Look, its three against four,} Rachel said smugly. {Let's go.}

I was about to retort when my ears detected the sounds of footsteps coming in our direction. Cursing Rachel and myself, I started running with the others. By the time the Controllers got there we were long gone.

* * *

And here we are. I was in my bedroom looking out at the night sky. Jake hadn't called. No one had heard from him. I was somewhere between eerily calm and totally freaking out. I had already tried calling Rachel and Marco but they must be asleep because they didn't answer. I sighed and moved over to my bed. It was gonna be a long night.

**Marco's POV**

**(The next day)**

Cassie had called me five times during the night. All of her messages sounded panicked. She was freaking out over something. I called her.

"Cassie?"

"Marco! Finally. Jake isn't back yet. He hasn't called or spoken to anyone since last night!"

"Cassie, I'm sure he just went to his house and fell asleep."

"No! I flew over to his house and looked through his window. There was no one there."

I frowned. "That's not good."

I heard Cassie sigh and I could tell she was trying not to scream at me. "Go over there. I'll meet you there."

"Alright. Bye."

**Cassie's POV**

**(Jake's house)**

I got there before Marco. The house looked empty. Tom was with The Sharing, and Jake's parents must be out running errands or something. The door was unlocked. Strange. I crept inside. Nothing looked destroyed or out of place. There was no sign of a struggle. The only noise was off the shower running. Steam was floating throughout the house, the thickest part of it coming from the bathroom. Had Jake left the shower on?

I walked inside the bathroom and pulled aside the shower curtain to turn off the water, but to my surprise, Jake was in the shower. He was fully clothed but dripping wet, curled up in the fetal position with his back against the wall. His eyes were vacant, and for s second I feared he was dead. But then he blinked, and I relaxed, though his eyes didn't focus on me or anything else.

"J-Jake?" I asked him. "Are you okay?"

His gaze found me for a fraction of a second, and then he resumed his staring contest with the wall.

At that moment Marco came in. "Cassie? What's with all the-Jake?" Marco sounded nervous. I was terrified. I had never seen Jake act like this before. Marco switched off the water and knelt beside him. He put his hand on Jake's shoulder. "Jake, are you okay-?"

The moment Marco touched Jake, he flinched—actually flinched, like he was afraid Marco was going to hurt him—and backed away from us both into a corner of the tub. Then he began to cry. Great, wracking sobs that shook his whole body while Marco and I stared at him dumbfounded. We had never seen Jake cry except when we started fighting the Yeerks. But it wasn't like this. The sobbing he was doing now was loud and filled with pain.

"J-Jake?" Marco asked. He had gone pale. "What is it?"

Jake flinched again at Marco's loud voice. I gave him a look that said "let me handle this" and knelt down in front of Jake.

"Jake?" I asked in my softest voice. "Please, can you tell me what's wrong?"

He shook his head mutely at me. It was then that I noticed the blood. Jake was bleeding. It looked like it had washed off his body from the shower and swirled down the drain, otherwise I would've noticed it right away. I put my hand on his arm, reassuringly. He flinched, and I immediately took it off.

"Marco, get help. He's hurt."

"No!" Jake croaked forcefully, making us both jump, "No help! People will ask questions, call the police-"

"Jake, you're hurt though!" Marco protested. He looked at me for help.

I was torn. It looked like Jake needed help, but he didn't want any. It wasn't right of my place to force help upon him, especially if he didn't want it.

"Well take him to my place," I told Marco. "Call Rachel, Josh, Ali, Tobias, and Ax. Get them to my place. Got it?"

Marco looked outraged. He opened his mouth to protest, but I stared him down. "We're doing what Jake wants. He doesn't want help. At least not right now. Now get going."

Marco grumbled and cursed, but left to do as I commanded. I led Jake into his backyard.

"Can you morph?" I asked Jake. He shook his head. "Alright," I told him, "It's fine." He looked like he was going to break down again any moment. I closed my eyes and accessed the horse DNA within me and felt my features changing. My face grew longer, hair erupted from the back of my neck, which also grew. My hands and feet turned into hooves, and I fell onto all fours. {Get on,} I told Jake, who complied. As soon as he was secure, I began running. Jake winced and cried out with ever step I took, however, so I had to settle for walking because I must've been hurting him somehow. The thought made me even more nervous.

After what seemed like forever, I finally made it to my place. Everyone else was already there in the barn, thankfully. Geez, Marco was fast.

When they saw Jake, they all reacted differently. Ax's eyes widened, Rachel froze in place, Tobias made a chattering sound in distress and began morphing to human. The only reactions that were the same were the twins, Josh and Ali. They looked at each other and then back at Jake and I, looking scared.

"What happened to him?" Rachel asked as she helped Jake off my back.

"We don't know, he won't talk," Marco said stiffly.

I began demorphing back to human.

Is he injured? Ax asked.

"There was blood on him when we found him," Marco replied yet again, "Human blood. Could be his."

"Stop acting like he isn't here!" I demanded, now almost fully human and able to speak. "Now, I asked Marco to call you guys here so we can discuss things, but we're not doing that until Jake is checked out. And since Jake doesn't want to go to a hospital, I'm the one who's going to have to do it."

"Why you?" Rachel asked, irritated at the fact that I was taking charge.

"Who else in here wants to be a veterinarian, therefore having slightly more medical experience then you all?" I countered.

"Ax?" she retorted.

I stifled a sigh. I hated arguing with Rachel. She was my best friend. I hated arguing with anyone actually. But some things had to be done. "Ax knows more about Andalite physiology, not human. Although it might do to have some help. Ax, would you stay and help me if I need it?"

His answer was almost immediate. {Of course.}

"Great. Everyone else, out," I ordered. Rachel was glaring at me, and I resisted the urge to look at her. I felt awful about raising my voice. She stalked outside, and Tobias followed her. The twins and Marco left next, leaving Ax, Jake, and myself alone in the barn.

"Jake?" I asked softly yet again, "Can I check you over to make sure you're not hurt?"

Something in his eyes told me that it was already too late for that, but he nodded. I stepped forward.

**Josh's POV**

**(Outside the barn, 30 minutes later)**

I was so bored…Ugh, I needed something to do. Not that I wasn't totally worried about Jake, but until Cassie and Ax were done looking him over I had nothing to do but annoy Ali. Which was fun, until she morphed into a cheetah and bit you.

"Stop goofing around, you two," Tobias said. I grumbled at little at him but complied. I liked Tobias best. Rachel I didn't mind actually, because she reminded me of Ali. Ax was the one who scared the shit outta me. He was so freaky looking! I mean, I know he's a vegetarian and all that, but still, he could slice and dice me with that tail of his if he wanted to. Marco was funny, occasionally, and Cassie was sweet. Jake was hard for me to read. Maybe I'm crazy and/or a creeper for analyzing everyone, but it's a habit Ali and I both picked up while living on the streets. It saved our asses more than once.

Finally, Cassie came outside, looking really pale.

"Is he alright?" Rachel asked almost immediately. Cassie shook her head. Ax followed her, holding a tape recorder. He looked alarmed and very, very sad.

"Did he tell you what happened?" I asked them both.

"He did, but he doesn't want to tell you face-to-face," Cassie replied. "So we recorded what he said on the tape recorder here."

She pressed play.

**Okay, you'll read the details in the next chapter! Please review, I'm DYING to know whether or not I should continue this!**

**And about Josh and Ali...idk. I made them so I could have two characters whose personalities I knew(because I created them.)**

**Bye!**


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